Trump Admin Hands Control of U.S. Global Change Research Program, National Climate Assessment to Climate Skeptic

The Trump administration has reportedly reinstated the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) with a climate change denier at its head. The USGCRP, established by Congress in 1990, plays an essential role in coordinating federal climate activities and producing the National Climate Assessment (NCA), a congressionally-mandated quadrennial assessment of the latest climate science and the impacts of climate change across the United States and its territories. The Trump administration previously dismantled the USGCRP and last year disbanded the team of authors responsible for the sixth NCA, saying the assessment was being "reevaluated," and removed past NCA reports from government websites.

Below is a statement by Dr. Carlos Martinez, senior climate scientist for the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"Reconstituting the UCSGCRP only to place the National Climate Assessment under the auspices of an utterly unqualified climate science denier would jeopardize the integrity of one of the nation's most important climate science resources. The NCA is not a political document. It's supposed to be developed through a rigorous, transparent, multi-agency scientific process involving federal experts, external scientists, extensive review - including by the National Academies - and public input. Communities, businesses, emergency managers, infrastructure planners and policymakers across the country rely on this comprehensive report to understand climate risks and make informed decisions that help protect people's health, safety, livelihoods and local economies.

"Our country cannot afford a compromised USGCRP or NCA that peddles politically motivated disinformation echoing fossil fuel industry talking points. The climate crisis is already hurting people across the country, and decisionmakers need credible science to prepare for extreme weather. Policymakers make the best decisions and policies when informed by the best available science, and any effort to weaken or distort the NCA would leave the nation less prepared for the realities of climate change. Congress must ensure that USGCRP and the NCA remain independent, transparent, fully grounded in the best available science and compliant with the law."